[MikeA]

Hello everyone.

Over the past month, I've made that decision to go back to diet and exercise. My biggest issue that it's really hurting me being in the gym on a regular basis. At the height of a previous weight loss goal, I was in the gym 12 times a week... meaning twice a day 5 days a week and once per day 2 times a week. I'm currently at the gym 2 times per week at the most when I don't travel.

I worked out some anger issues and ended up getting my personal and professional life back on track a few years ago, but the weight came back on. Even though I'm emotionally in a better place than before, it was at this size where the issue of my weight caused all the other bad stuff to take control in my life... and I need to be determined not to have that happen again.

My goal is two steps... get to where I was when I did get my life back on track (#225 & 8-12 trips to the gym per week), and then get to an adulthood "dream goal" of #180... which is what Harley Davidson uses for motorcycle gas mileage calculations as "the average weight of a rider."

I don't really know my current weight, but I'm pretty sure it is under 280... a place I've never got to in my life yet and don't want to believe I'm at. Simply put - I travel for work all over the US, the damn seats are way too uncomfy for me, and I don't want to buy polo's and T-shirts starting at the 2XL size anymore.

I have a friend in Round Rock TX who went on Ideal Protein diet, and he swears by it. I tried the non-shot HCG well before all of this, and it seems the same... super low calorie, don't recommend working out, diet plan. All the reviews and two bad experiences with people selling the Ideal Protein solution already just a few weeks ago seems to be a bummer, but my friend still swears by it.

That's when I turned to online research, and most of my answers came from this site and forum's posts. So, with some work, I'm going to try to hack this diet and follow this Ideal Protein Program without any of their foods or supplements, but will replace them with food from here... and I'll still do exercise - but will be super limited due to the calorie intake.

Cheers for now.

[Wannabehealthy]

Welcome Mike. I am not too familiar with IP, but I do know that we have a pretty informative IP section here on 3FC. That will help you. Good luck to you.

[EagleRiverDee]

Hello, Mike, and welcome! I'm not that familiar with IP but have familiarity with lower-carb approaches as I've done paleo, primal blueprint and Whole 30.

I do wonder why you want to be in the gym so much? If you enjoy it, great. But if you're doing it because you think that's how you lose weight- losing weight is 90% diet. When I was in my 20's I had a doctor tell me, "You lose weight with diet, you get fit with exercise" and I pooh-poohed him because until I was about 28 I could eat anything I wanted and lose weight. But I also had a VERY active job. At 28 I switched to a desk job- and gained 10 lbs a year for 9 years. I'm a slow learner, I guess, because it took years for me to address my diet and when I did it was driven by an illness. However, the result has been that I've lost nearly all the weight. I lost the first 40 lbs without working out at all because I was too sick and weak to work out. I'm just tossing that out there. If you're working out because you enjoy it, or because you want to achieve a certain level of fitness, that's super. I just worry when I see someone with that kind of schedule that they'll burn themselves out and that can ruin all your efforts.

In any case, I do think a low carb approach combined with exercise will be very effective for you and look forward to reading your posts as you progress!

[Pemberley]

Hi! I haven't heard of it but do generally try and make sure that my meals are at least 1/3 protein.

How come you want to go to the gym so much? If you enjoy it, cool, but if not, maybe you could stay there longer or do something at home that doesn't need a machine eg pilates. I am not sure so please don't hold me to it but I was told once that it is good to give your body 1 or 2 days rest to repair muscle.

Good luck!

[Alex74874]

Hello! Seems interesting!